EVENTS

Levitation trick

A friend of mine visiting Spain sent me this photo of a couple of street performers seemingly defying the laws of science. She was curious as to how it might have been done.

This is a variation on a very old levitation trick that originated in India and you can see the explanation in the video below.

In the case of the photo, I suspect that there is a steel rod holding up a seat that is hidden under the robes of the upper ‘monk’ that passes down through the bamboo and down the robed arm of the lower monk and goes to a flat base that the lower ‘monk’ sits on to provide the support. It requires some delicate positioning to prevent the whole thing toppling over.

All points of contact hidden up sleeves, within bamboo, under robes. Someone was doing something similar on the street at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival a few weeks ago. More interesting than the trick was how many people were gaping in amazement (although it was well done!)

A trick that is so obvious, especially to anyone who stuck around until the holy man went on his way, still survives? That is the place to focus incredulity and upon which to focus criticism. Not that the holy man ran a scam, but that people just ate it up!